Despite trying to stay out of the shower of bullets he turned his gun on them – and Brenda heroically shielded her son to save his life, tragically losing her own

Isaiah’s siter Khalisha revealed he feels crippled with guilt his mother gave up her life to protect him and he survived while others didn’t: “According to his sister Khalisha Pressley, Isaiah has been crippled with a feeling of guilt.

She told NBC News: “He had to watch his mother die. He saw everybody getting killed. He feels it was his fault.”

Brenda, from Brooklyn, New York, moved to California for 15 years before ending up in Orlando so she could be near her children.

A regular dancer, she loved salsa and usually went to New York for Puerto Rico Pride Day. However she decided to stay at home with family this year

It was after midnight on Saturday she posted a video of her two friends dancing in the nightclub – it was to be the last time they saw her.

Her son Farrell Marshall has created a GoFundMe page and wrote on it: “We have confirmation that this wonderful and caring woman, known as a mother of 11 children left behind from fighting 2 types of cancer and now to be taken off this earth from what we call 'Insanity.'

“She just went out last night and said goodbye to her children and to be called 3 hours later that she has been hit by 2 gunshots and later pronounced dead.”

He set up the page to raise money to help support his younger brothers and sisters – and it has so far raised over $24,000.

The family have been overwhelmed with messages of support and her son Robert Vinnie Pressley posted a Facebook message saying how touched they have been, and talking about his mother’s vibrant personality and love of life: “A lot of people called my mom ‘mom.’ “My mom was a good person. She loved to hang out she was always uplifting, always there, everybody loved my mom.

“She passed away doing what she loved, supporting her kids and having fun with her kids. She wasn't supposed to make it, she had cancer, she was a fighter. My mom was a fighter. They told her she wasn't supposed to live eight years ago.”

He went on to say Brenda, who was a supporter of the LGBT community, would have wanted people to celebrate her life: “She wouldn't want you guys to be sad, she'd want you to be happy. Celebrating her.